The Truth Is Sometimes Worse Than The Lie

The Start of a Five Year War

The title may or may not be a reference. I have a problem, okay?

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On that fateful day Shad came in holding Alina. Poor innocent Alina who had no clue why she should be terrified of the man holding her. I don't remember much after that. Lunar told me that I immediately jumped up into a defensive stance. I hope I fucked him up. Bringing a three year old child into a war was low, even for him. Alina is now with Hyria and her sister until further notice. When I regained consciousness I was laying in a bed with Laurence sleeping in a chair next to me. I remember slowly sitting up, narrowly avoiding waking him up, and looking over my body that was littered in bandages and bruises. I had to use my wings to get around for a week. Lunar went after Scar and Violet via the compass. She had to turn back before she could find where it lead. I found my battles with Shad were getting more often. For a bit I had to have help from Laurence of Lunar. Fighting him with my wings out was too risky. I'm almost completely healed but we haven't gotten any closer to defeating Shad without killing Aaron in the process. A familiar face showed up about two days ago. Katelyn the Firefist. She immediately drew her sword upon seeing me and then had to get talked down by Garroth and Aphmau. She's still glaring. Aphmau set up a few days in which Laurence and Lunar will protect Phoenix Drop while I go to Brightport to train soldiers to fight Shad. That's in a few days now.

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Today, Katelyn, Travis, and I set off for Brightport. Katelyn waited until we were just out of sight from Phoenix Drop to start threatening me. I simply ignore her threats and practiced summoning my knives on a seconds notice. Travis, of course, noticed my distant behavior and confronted me about it. I simply shot him an amused look and replied, 'How would you feel if two of the kids you have responsibility of went missing in the middle of a war that they don't even know is happening and you are a key player in said war? Not to mention your brother's past comes back and starts threatening you and you have to constantly fight off one of the divine.' That got them both to shut up for the rest of the journey there. I had heard from Zak the previous day, they aren't in the Nether. That's at least a relief. Training went pretty smoothly. I'm not a good teacher so Katelyn and some head guards offered to 1v1 me to learn that way. I went along and put myself in Shad's place, using the information I had gathered from fighting and learning from him. If I could tell they were going on the defensive, I would back off and wait for them to make a move. We mostly did hand to hand combat today so I'm teaching them his dirty styles of fighting. With dull swords of course. I don't want to wipe out the best fighters before they get to see the fight.

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It's been three days in Brightport. We leave tomorrow morning. So far, Shad hasn't shown up. It somehow makes me more anxious than when I'd see him everyday. I don't know what he's been doing in the Nether. It's extremely dangerous to have a spy in the castle walls of the Nether. It's easy to get caught. You can't write things down and magic is easily tapped within the castle. The only way to get information both ways is on the battlefield. There were way too many times I faced Laurence or Zenix in battle just to give them important information. Zenix has told me that they can't afford to have a spy on the inside anymore. We lack the resources to rage regular battles that are meant to fail. Aphmau is aiding us with what we need but there is nothing she can do about the lack of people we have on our side. She can't create Shadow Knights and regular people need protection from the Nether's effects. As much as I'd like to protect an army for days in the Nether, that's not happening. Hyria has already politely told me that she's not getting involved. I don't blame her. The only people that I think are even remotely capable, well one is missing and either way, I'm not getting them involved. Those poor kids do not need anymore to worry about. Training went well. Guards are being stationed all over Ru'an too protect in case of an attack. Zenix told me that he plans on trying to slowly start luring Shad's men out into the overworld. I told him that I was more than willing to summon the Nether portal at a moment's notice. Hopefully this will be over soon.

Are you all ready for the end? Just a few more chapters left...